I love a well crafted analogy. The fun of being a writer – for me – is being a word smith. Drafting an analogy does that for

Broken coffeemaker, NYC, 11/21/07 – 1 of 4 (Photo credit: goodrob13)

me. Analogies keep a writer’s mind sharp, which is why I started doing them years ago. The best ones come off the top of my head, other times I have to work at them. That’s why its good to have a small notebook handy. Today’s impromptu analogy came about when I took my car over for some minor repair work. A man – sitting next to the coffee pot, asked me if I thought the coffee pot should be on when the pot was empty. As I was sitting on the other side of the room and we were the only two people there, I said “no, you should probably turn it off. ” His reply was “well I didn’t turn the pot on.” The analogy I thought of right then; and one which I voiced rather sarcastically, was “that’s like watching someone who is going to fall into a hole, and someone saying “hurry – warn him,” and you saying, “But I didn’t dig the hole.”

After his brain engaged; it took a second or two, (yes, ignorance is bliss) he got the point. The coffee pot was saved.

Wikipedia has a good definition of Analogy – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analogy but I am interested if you readers / writers have ever come up an original analogy you want to share. Comment back. I look forward to reading them.